Historic buildings now standing in New York, which were erected prior to eighteen hundred

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HISTORIC BUILDINGS NOW STANDING IN NP Y(^^^
WHICH WERE ERECTED PRIOR TO EIGHTEEN HUNDRED

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HISTORIC BUILDINGS

NOW STANDING IN NEW YORK
WHICH WERE ERECTED PRIOR
TO EIGHTEEN HUNDRED

PRINTED FOR

BANK OF THE MANHATTAN COMPANY

NEW YORK CITY

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COPYRIGHTED 19x4
BY

Bant: of the Manhattan Company

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The x-ignette on the preceding title-page is
the seal of the Manhattan Company. On
May 8, 1799, the Committee on By-Laws
reported " that they had devised a common
seal for the Corporation, the description
of which is as follows: Oceanus, one of
the sea gods, sitting in a reclining posture
on a rising ground pouring water from an
urn which forms a river and terminates
in a lake. On the exergue will be in-
scribed ' Seal of the Manhattan Com-
pany.'"

Compiled, Designed, and Printed

UNDER the direction OF THE

AValton Advertising and Printing Company
Boston, Mass.

FOREWORD

IT is apparent to the New Yorker as well as to the stranger
that the city is changing rapidly. Time lays as de-
structive a hand upon that which is historic as upon that
which is uninteresting; and the buildings of yesterday give
place to those of to-day.

It has seemed appropriate to the Bank of the Manhattan
Company that it should assemble views of substantially all
the buildings of historic interest now standing within the city
limits which were in existence in 1799, when it was founded.
Many of these buildings have undergone but little change
since then; others, though their original walls are standing,
have been altered to meet more modern requirements. While
the city possesses many interesting buildings erected in the
first half of the nineteenth century, the small number of in-
teresting buildings of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
which still remain shows how little is left of the New York
of Colonial times and even of the early days of the Republic.

The compiler has made every effort to render both the views
and the historic notes reliable and interesting. His indebted-
ness is acknowledged to Frank Cousins, Esq., Salem, Mass.,
who furnished a majority of the photographs; to Dr. George
W. Nash, Randall Comfort, Esq., John Ward Dunsmore,
Esq., John Moore Perry, Esq., and A. A. Russell, Esq., for
other photographs; to Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes, Esq.,
for his valuable advice and suggestions; and to the New York
Historical Society for permission to reproduce old prints.

In the belief that it will be of interest to the busy man of
affairs as well as to the antiquarian, the bank presents this
brochure to you with its compliments, and hopes that it may
find a permanent place in your library.

BANK OF THE MANHATTAN COMPANY

40 Wall Street, New York

[ 3 ]

NEW YORK

1626-1800

THE Island of Manhattan, which for years marked the
bounds of the city of New York until the outlying
districts were taken in, presented in 1626, when Peter
Minuit, the Dutch governor-general, bought it from the In-
dians for $24 in trinkets, a far different aspect from that
of to-day, when the value of the land upon the island is

Where massive sky-scrapers now tower, primeval forests, un-
touched by the hand of man, fretted the sky line. At the
lower end of the island there were wooded hills and grassy
valleys where the wild strawberry, apple, cherry, and grape
fruited in their season, and wild flowers of every hardy kind
bloomed in profusion. Brooks, ponds, swamps, and marshes
covered the middle part of the island, and not far from the
shore at the lower end on the east side was a pond with a little
island in the middle to which the Dutch later gave the name
Kolloch. To the north were high rocky hills, covered with
dense forests, in which the wolf, the bear, the deer, and the
wild turkey had their haunts, and between the hills trickled,
tumbled, and foamed scores of limpid brooks, full of trout.

New Amsterdam lived on traffic, and was a lively place
from the beginning, for it was on the highway between the
northern and southern colonies. Life was remarkably cos-
mopolitan from the earliest days. Official edicts were issued
in French, Dutch, and English, and in 1643 eighteen languages
were spoken on Manhattan Island. The town, settled for
purposes of trade by a seafaring people, naturally long clung
close to the water's edge. And here centred the social life of
the old Dutch town.

[ 5 ]

The irregularity of the streets below Bowling Green, — the
open space set apart in 1626 for common use, — is evidence
of the haphazard way in which the first settlers placed their
houses. At first there were only two recognized roads. One
of them led from the fort to Brooklyn Ferry at about the
present Peck SUp, along the line of the present Stone and
Pearl Streets (the latter then the water front). The other,
on the line of the present Broadway, went north from the
fort, out of the towTi through Peter Stuyvesant's "Bowerie,"
or country place, from which this part of the road took its
name "the Bowery," and on into the wilderness. For more
than a century- this was the only highway traversing the island
from end to end, and was famous as the Boston Post Road.

In these early days the favorite dwelHng-place of the quaUty
of the town was along the canal that ran the length of the
present Broad Street, then called Heere Gracht. The pali-
sade, built in 1653 along the line of the present Wall Street
for protection against a threatened attack by New Eng-
enders, marked the northern limit of the towTi, and for many
years serv-ed to retard the natural growth of the town in that
direction.

In 1664 there were only twelve buildings outside the wall,
and only one-third of the area within was built upon. The
western side of the town, from Bowling Green northwards,
was entirely given over to gardens, orchards, and green fields.
On the east the farthest outlying dwelling was Wolfert Web-
ber's tavern on the northern highway, near the present
Chatham Square, where travellers rested on their perilous
journey to Harlem. Except for the settlement at Sappo-
kanican, afterwards Greenwich Village, and the few farms
along the highway, this region was empty. Annual round-ups
were held of the herds which ran wild in the brush country,
beginning where City Hall now stands. Soon after the settle-
ment on Manhattan the Dutch and EngUsh turned covetous
eyes on Long Island, particularly the neighborhood of Flat-
lands, Flushing, Jamaica, and Brooklyn, and here they early
built their homes. The Enghsh also settled upon Staten
Island.

With the passage of the Bolting Act in 1678, giv^ing the city

[ 6 ]

a monopoly of the bolting and packing of flour, New York
boomed. By 1695 the city inside the wall was densely popu-
lated, and new streets north of the wall doubled the area of
the city. Under Enghsh rule New York became very pros-
perous. One source of its wealth was the plunder of the
privateersmen, pirates, and slavers, who made New York their
headquarters. Red Seamen, as they were called, not only had
little difficulty in disposing of their booty in New York, but
were welcomed as guests by the gentry and merchants, who
made fortunes out of their dealings with them. One of the
lots on the north side of Wall Street, 25 feet by 112 feet,
was sold on March 13, 1689, to William Cox, a merchant, for
£60, and by him bequeathed to his wife Sarah, who later
married Captain Kidd. When the Kidds resold it on January
27, 1694, to John Warren, a butcher, they received £130.
In 1 71 2 the population was 5,840; in 1731, 8,622; and lots
sold for from £30 to £100, according to their nearness to
Bowling Green.

Many New Yorkers had country places outside the city,
where they lived in considerable state. The Bowery was
lined with the farms of the Bayards, the DeLanceys, and
other well-known families, and was the fashionable drive of
the period. Scattered here and there were inns which at-
tracted the gay world, and in some cases formed the nucleus
of a village ultimately absorbed by the growing city. Busi-
ness was still concentrated in the streets leading to Brooklyn
Ferry, and no one expected that it would ever encroach upon
the west side of the island. At the beginning of the English
period social life centred at Fort George at the Battery, where
the governor lived in state in his mansion and where the
King's Chapel stood. Lower Broadway and the streets west,
Greenwich Street from the Battery to Cortlandt Street, and,
in time, the region further north, were occupied by people
of fashion.

At the opening of the Revolution the Bowery was largely
built upon as far as Grand Street, and from there to the junc-
tion with the Middle Road (Broadway) it was lined with the
country houses of well-to-do citizens. The epidemics of
small-pox and yellow fever, which visited the city regularly

[ 7 ]

during the last part of the eighteenth century and the first
quarter of the nineteenth, greatly accelerated the northern
development of New York. Many families, who took refuge
in their out-of-to\\Ti houses, remained there as permanent
residents. But, long after the up-town movement had begun,
people who already lived near the Batter}^, or who could afford
to get houses there, lingered in the neighborhood. State
Street, the eastern boundar}- of Bowling Green, was a de-
Ughtful site for a town residence, and many other old streets
resisted the encroachments of business until after 1800.

At the beginning of iSoo, the population was 50,000, and
a flourishing town had sprung up about New Harlem and in
Greenwich, that section of New York around Gansevoort
Market, Christopher and West loth Streets, the original estate
of Sir Peter Warren, the English admiral, .\nother settlement
known as Chelsea had also begun in the section now roughly
bounded by Eighth Avenue, 20th and 23d Streets, where, in
1750, Captain Thomas Clarke, the veteran of the French and
Indian War, had his country home. But most of New York,
however, above City Hall Park was open country; and above
14th Street it was heavily wooded. Such was the condition
of New York in 1800. To some of the old houses then
standing, which still remain, your attention is now invited.

[ 8 ]

SCHENCK-CROOKE HOUSE

On Mill Island, near Bergen Beach, Brooklyn, N.Y. Built i6j6

The oldest house standing as originally erected in New York, and probably the
oldest house in New York State, was built in 1656 by Jan Martinse Schenck Van
Nydeck, who came of a noble Dutch family, long distinguished in the Low Countries.
He was grandson of General Peter Schenck Van Nydeck, whose father was the
Lord of Afferden and Blynbeek, Netherlands. Martin came to this country in 1650,
and settled on Mill Island, where the Schenck estate was situated. This property
was inherited by Captain John Schenck, who, like his ancestors, was interested in
ships that plied between New Netherlands and Old Netherlands, and docked at the
Schenck Wharf on Mill Island centuries before Jamaica Bay was considered as a ter-
minal for ocean liners.

Captain John Schenck's heirs sold the property, containing about seventy-five
acres of woodland, upland, and salt marsh, to Joris Martense, of Flatbush, for £2,300.
Martense, while ostensibly favoring the British cause during the Revolution, actu-
ally advanced $5,500 to the American cause. In his house Major Moncrief, of the
British army, was captured by Captain William Marriner, who made a midnight dash
against Flatbush, and who had previously been captured and paroled by Moncrief.

The property came into the hands of General Philip S. Crooke, as trustee for
the children of his wife, who had inherited the property, and is now owned by the
Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific Company, a contracting firm which took over the house arid
estate in payment of their bill for improving the property. It is substantially in
the shape it was originally built, and illustrates the quaint type of Dutch house
that the early settlers of New Amsterdam and the surrounding territory erected about
the middle of the seventeenth century.

[9 ]

BERGEN HOMESTEAD
On East J2d Street, Bergen Beach. Built 1656

The Bergen house stands on what was Bergen Island, which was granted in
1646 by Governor Kieft to Captain John Underhill, the famous New Englander who
was employed by Governor Kieft to fight the Pequot Indians. The island was then
called by the Dutch "Meller's Island," and by the Indians "Wimbaccoe," and was
sold by Underhill to Thomas Spicer, who bought from the Indians what rights they
then held. Spicer is said to have built the old house in 1656, soon after the erec-
tion of the Schenck-Crooke house. The house was bought of Spicer's heirs in 1665
for 125 guilders in wampum by Elbert Elbertse, who came from North Brabant,
and owned six hundred acres in Flatlands. And later, through inheritance and pur-
chase, the house came into the hands of John Bergen, whose heirs finally sold it to the
speculators who laid out Bergen Beach.

[ 10 ]

BOWNE HOUSE

Bowne Avenue and Washington Street, Flushing. Built 1661

This was one of the first asylums of the Quakers in America, and here Hved John
Bowne, the brave Englishman, who defied Governor Peter Stuyvesant by allowing
Quakers to meet at his house, and whose conduct was sustained by the ofi'icials of
the West India Company. He was the son of Thomas Bowne, of Derbyshire, Eng-
land, and settled in Elushing, Long Island, about 1649. He built the Bowne house
in 1661, and for over forty years it was used as a meeting-place for Friends. Bowne's
wife, Hannah Field, was a sister of the wife of Captain John Underbill, who subdued
the Pequot Indians. Soon after her marriage she became acquainted with some
Friends at Flushing, who for want of a place to worship were meeting in the woods,
and joined their society. Her husband, attracted by the solemnity and simplicity
of their worship, invited them to meet at his house, and later joined the sect him-
self. The English settlers complained in 1662 to Governor Peter Stuyvesant that
the new sect was violating an ordinance of the West India Company that provided
"beside the reformed religion no conventicles should be holden in the houses, barns,
shops, woods, or fields, under the penalty of fifty gilders for the first offence, double
for the second, and arbitrary correction for every other." Bowne was accordingly
arrested, and charged with harboring Quakers and permitting them to hold meetings
at his house. He was thrown into prison at Fort Amsterdam by Governor Stuy-
vesant upon his refusal to cease harboring Quakers, and was held to await trial.
Upon being fined and refusing to pay, he was confined in a dungeon, restricted
to bread and water, and finally sent a prisoner to Amsterdam. The West India
Company, after considering his case, released him, and wrote to Governor Stuyvesant
to let John Bowne alone as long as he did not disturb others or oppose the gov-
ernment. This document, in which the principle of religious toleration was laid
down, was the first official declaration in favor of religious freedom in any part of
America save Maryland.

John Bowne returned to Flushing, where the Quakers were no longer persecuted
and in 1672 entertained George Fox, the founder of the Quaker sect. The minutes of
the Quakers' monthly meeting at Flushing certify to the esteem in which John
Bowne was held by the Quakers of his town. The house stands on the principal
street in Flushing, and is to-day, inside and outside, much as it was when John Bowne
and his wife moved into it.

[ -I ]

MOURE HOUSE
Broadway and Shell Road, Elmhurst {Newtown). Built 1661

In 1652 a company of Englishmen, one of whom was the Rev. John Moore,
arrived on Long Island from New England, and secured from Governor Peter
Stuy\-esant permission to start a town. Accordingly, the town of Newtown was laid
out. In consequence of the Rev. John Moore's activity in the purchase of Newtown
from the Indians, the town awarded to his children eighty acres of land. In 1661
his son Captain Samuel Moore built the Moore house, which has remained in the
family ever since, the present occupant being Mr. John Moore Perry, whose grand-
father on his mother's side was a Moore, .\lthough additions have been made to
the house, much of the old part is still standing. Lord Howe made his headquarters
here for a while during the Revolution, and here, too, the Duke of Clarence, afterward
William IV. of England, was a guest. The "Newtown pippin," a famous apple,
was first grown here.

[ 12 ]

WYCKOFF HOUSE

On Remsen Place, near Canarsie Lane, Brooklyn. Built 1664

Here first settled the Wyckoff family, which has identified itself with church
and secular history in many parts of the country. The land was bought from the
Canarsie Indians in 1630, and the house was built in 1664 of material brought from
Holland. The original owner was Pieter Claeson, who came from Holland in 1636, and
for a time, in 1655, was superintendent of Peter Stuyvesant's farm. He later rose to be
a man of wealth as well as a magistrate in Flatlands, and was one of the representa-
tives at the convention held at Flatbush to send delegates to Holland to lay before
the States-General and the West India Company the distressed condition of New
Amsterdam. He was also one of the patentees in the town charters of Flatbush in
1667 and 1686. After the cession of New York to the English he took the name
Wyckofif. His ancestors have lived here for generations, and, although slightly remod-
elled, the farm-house is substantially as it was when originally built.

[ 13 ]

MACOMB MANSION

2joth Street, West of Broadway. Built idgj

This is one of the oldest and best-preserved landmarks in the Bronx. The ear-
liest references, 1693, mention it as a tavern, and it was kept about the time of the
Revolution by John Cock. It was long one of the famous taverns on the old Albany
post road, which was built in 1669 between New York and Albany, and crossed
Spuyten Duyvil Creek at the old "Wading Place," almost in front of the Macomb
Mansion door.* At the time of the Revolution the statue of George III. at Bowl-
ing Green in New York City was overthrown, and the head was carried to Fort
Washington to be attached to the flagstaff. A message was passed through the Rebel
camp to Cock to steal and bury the head. This he did, hiding it in his tavern. As
early as 1693 this territory was included in the Manor of PhiUpsburg, and was a
part of the domain of Colonel Philipse until forfeited by his attainder. Si.x years
later it was sold by the Commissioners of Forfeiture.

The Macomb Mansion derives its name from General Alexander Macomb, who
bought it in 1797, and in 1810 it came into the hands of the general's son, Robert,
who erected about 1813 the well-known Macomb's dam across the Harlem River,
some miles below the Macomb Mansion, in order to secure water power for his mill.
In 183S several residents, becoming enraged that the dam was an obstruction to
na\-igation, demolished it, and their stand was sustained by the Court of Chancery.
In 1830, during the occupancj- of Mrs. Robert Macomb, it was the scene of lavish
hospitality, many of the celebrities of the day being entertained there. Edgar Allan
Poe, whose cottage was on the crest of Fordham Hill, not far away, was a frequent \-is-
itor. At various times in history it has been known as the "Watch Tower," and at
one time or another during the Revolutionary- War it was occupied by the cowboys
and skinners, as the fighting Tories were called, by patriots and by well-known
smugglers.

[ 14 ]

BILLOPP HOUSE

Tottenville, Staten Island. Built about i6g§

This house, built by Captain Christopher Billopp, is said to be a monument
"to the acquisition of Staten Island by New York." The boundary between New
York and New Jersey was early disputed, the controversy being whether Staten
Island was included in the grant of New Jersey by the Duke of York to Carteret
and Berkeley. As the duke, afterwards James II., decided that all islands which
could be circumnavigated in a day should belong to New York, Captain Billopp
sailed around the island in less than twenty-four hours, and the island was ceded to
New York. The duke presented (March 25, 1676) to Captain Billopp a tract of
1,163 acres on the southern shore of the island, and here Billopp in 1689 established
the "Manor of Bentley," as Tottenville was then known, and built his manor-house.
A grandson and namesake of the original owner was a colonel in the British Army
during the Revolutionary War, and entertained many British officers here before he
was captured and jailed at Burlington, N.J., among them being Generals Howe,
Clinton, CornwalUs, Burgoyne, and others. In 1776, it was a barracks for General
Howe's troops.

Here, on September 11, 1776, he received Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania,
John Adams of Massachusetts, and Edward Rutledge of South Carolina, whom he
had asked the Continental Congress to send to him to see if peace could not be
arranged. Lord Howe stated that he could extend full pardon to rebels who would
lay down their arms and return to their allegiance, but could not consider inde-
pendence of the colonies. The committee replied that it could not entertain any
proposition that did not recognize political independence. Howe said that was be-
yond his authority, and the committee, after some further discussion, returned, down
lines of grenadiers, to the barge which Lord Howe had sent to the Jersey shore for
them. On the way to the boat Lord Howe said that the stand of the committee
was painful to him and painful to themselves. To which Dr. Franklin replied that
"the people would endeavor to take good care of themselves, and thus alleviate
as much as possible the pain his Lordship might feel in consequence of any severity
his Lordship might deem it his duty to adopt." Lord Howe, turning to Adams,
expressed his regret that he could not recognize the committee in a public character,
to which the redoubtable Adams said he "was willing for a few moments to be re-
garded in any light or any character except that of a British subject." Lord Howe
replied, "Mr. Adams appears to have decided character." And later, when a list of
important rebels was published to whom amnesty would be given, John Adams's name
was left off.

[ 15 ]

FRIENDS' MEETING-HOUSE

Flushing. Built i6gj

This quaint building, which is a monument to the courage of a religious sect as
well as evidence of the generosity of an early settler in the town, was erected in 1695,
and ever since has been a meeting-place for religious worship. In the State Archives
at Albany is a petition of Samuel Haight, dated June 17, 1697, which states that a
Mr. Noble, the step-father-in-law of the petitioner, "is lately deceased and having
made easy for his own body leaves his estate to his widow during her life and at her
death to the people called Quakers, land then being in the possession of the widow
and petitioner." In consideration of the request of the deceased the petitioner
had erected a meeting-house for the Quakers in the town, at his own charge and
expense, on the ground that certain tracts of land may be given to him at the death
of the widow. On the same day a patent was issued in accordance with the petition.
During the Revolutionary- War the meeting-house was used as a small-pox hospital,
and against its wooden timbers British soldiers played quoits.

[ 16 ]

JAN DITMARS HOUSE

Kouwenhoven Place, Flatlands, Brooklyn, Long Island. Built before lyoo

The land on which the Ditmars house is was bought of the Indians in 1635 and
1636, and later came into the possession of Jan Ditmars, who was bom in 1718. His
son Johannes Ditmars at the outbreak of the Revokition was one of the wealthiest
residents of Kings County, and had, as guardian after his father's death, a neighbor
and friend who was a strong British sympathizer, though Ditmars was a patriot and
advanced large sums to the American cause. When the British were preparing to
land on Long Island, Washington commanded the farmers of Kings and Queens
Counties to stack their grain in the field, so that, if the British approached, it could
be burned without endangering the barns. Ditmars' guardian refused to comply,
and, when the British advanced, American soldiers were ordered to set fire to the hay
in the barn. Ditmars, whose stacks were burning in the field, rushed to the barn and
put out the fire, then, springing to the top of a pile of hay, said, "If you burn this
barn, you burn me." The Americans, who knew him and his aid to their cause, went
away without firing the barn.

On another occasion during the Revolution the house at night was attacked by
some British soldiers, who had learned that Ditmars had several bags of gold locked
in a cupboard. They seized Ditmars and his mother, while asleep, and placed them
under a feather bed to hush them, and afterwards tried to force Ditmars to unlock the
cupboard. When he refused, they began to hack it to pieces with their swords. Slaves
who slept over the kitchen heard the noise, and, arming themselves with old blunder-
busses and other weapons, attacked the soldiers, capturing three, all of whom later
escaped. When the slaves rescued their master and his mother, the two had been
almost smothered by the feather bsd. Some of the descendants of the Ditmars
are said still to have coins which were in the boxes the robbers sought.

[ 17 ]

CARPENTER'S TAVERN

Jamaica, Long Island. Built before 1710

This has been a tavern since 1710, and at the time of the Revolution its owner
was Increase Caqsenter. Its chief claim to celebrity is that here General Nathaniel
Woodhull was captured, August 28, 1776, by the British. General Washington had
given him the work of driving the cattle on Long Island out of British reach, and on
the day of his capture he had lingered to receive orders from Washington at the inn,
although his troops had gone on four miles. While he was awaiting orders, the battle
of Long Island was fought, and he was surprised and badly wounded by companies
of British Highlanders and Dragoons. After being imprisoned in various prison-
ships, he was sent to the old De Sille house, where he finally died, one of the
early martyrs of the Revolution. He had served with distinction in the French and
Indian Wars, represented Suffolk County in the General Assembly, and had been presi-
dent of the Provincial Congress of New York and of the New York Assembly.
The old house is nearly the same as it was in the Revolution. A movement has
been inaugurated to preserve it.

[ 18 ]

FERINE HOMESTEAD

Ai Dongan Hills, Staten Island. Built about 171 3

The original home of the Ferine family is said to have been built about 17 13 by
Joseph Holmes, and later came into the possession of the Perines. It is still owned
by them. The name was originally spelled Perrin, and the family were French
Huguenot, and the first mention of the name in America was probably in 1665, when
Daniel Perrin sold some land on Staten Island. The house was occupied by branches
of the Ferine family for over a hundred and fifty years. During a part of the
Revolution it was occupied by Captain Coghlan, of the British army. In front is
Todt or Toad Hill, also called Iron Hill because at times iron was found here.

[ 19 ]

FRAUNCES TAVERN

Southeast corner Pearl and Broad Streets. Built lyig

This old house stands on what was originally the old shore line before fillings ex-
tended the city two or more blocks into the harbor, and was part of the land of
Colonel Stephen Van Cortlandt. In 1700 the latter conveyed the site to his son-in-
law Etienne or Stephen DeLancey, one of the Huguenot noblemen who became
prominent merchants of the early town.

The house was built in 1719 by Stephen DeLancey as a residence, and event-
ually descended to Oliver DeLancey. About 1757 it was the home of Colonel Joseph
Robinson, DeLancey's partner, and later it became the store and warehouse of their
firm, DeLancey, Robinson and Company, which dealt in foreign, principally East Indian,
goods. In 1762 it was sold at auction to Samuel Fraunces, a West Indian, called
"Black Sam" because of his swarthy complexion, who opened it as "The Queen's
Head" or "Queen Charlotte Tavern," so called in honor of the Queen of George
III. of England. It soon became one of the most popular taverns in the town.
Here on .\pril 8, 1768, in the Long Room, was organized the Chamber of Commerce,
consisting of twenty-four importers and merchants. John Cruger was chosen the
first president. The Sons of Liberty and the Vigilance Committee held a meeting
in the tavern in 1774 to protest against the landing of tea from the ship "London" at
the East India Company Wharf nearby, and those present marched to the dock and
threw the cargo into the river, as did the members of the Boston Tea Party. And
here also was organized the Committee of Correspondence which had so much to
do with bringing about the formation of the Continental Congress. On November
25, 1783, Governor George Clinton gave a dinner here, in celebration of Evacuation
Day, to George Washington, Chevalier de la Luzerne, and other officers.

The event for which the inn is most famous occurred December 4, 1783, when
General George Washington bade farewell to forty-four of his officers, .\fterwards,
entering a barge at Whitehall Slip, he left the city. In 1 785 the tavern was sold
by Fraunces, and was eventually, in 1837, leased by John Gardner, father of Colonel
Asa Bird Gardner, former District .Attorney. The New York Yacht Club was
organized in it in 1844. As its interior was burned more or less on two occasions,
it was restored in 1006-07 to its condition in Fraunces's time by the Sons of the
Revolution, who had bought it in 1904; and it has since been maintained as a
museum.

[ 20 ]

KREUZER-PELTON HOUSE

At "The Cove,^^ West New Brighton, Staten Island. Built about 1722

This house, which stands on land that belonged to the Kreuzer estate, was built
about 1722 by Joseph Rolph. At the time of the Revolution it was occupied by " the
Widow Kreuzer," into the possession of whose husband's ancestors the house had
come, and it was taken for headquarters by General Cortlandt Skinner's "American
Royalists." Skinner was in 1772 the last royal attorney-general of New Jersey,
and at the outbreak of the Revolution was authorized to raise a corps of 2,500 Royal-
ists, but the greatest number he ever enlisted was 1,101. He commanded the corps
during the Revolution, and at its close went to England, where he received the half-
pay of a brigadier-general for his services in America. At the Kreuzer house Prince
William, who later became King William IV., was entertained by General Skinner, and
at one time Major John Andre was also a guest. In 1839 the house was bought by
Daniel Pel ton, whose daughter married General Duffie.

[ 21 ]

SCHERMERHORN EARM-HUUSE

At the Foot of East 64th Street, in the Rockefeller Institute Grounds.

Built 1^47

This house, which stands on a pinnacle of rocks overlooking the East River, was
built in 1747, and was once surrounded by woods on all but the river side. North
was Jones's Woods, beginning at 70th Street, a part of the ninety-acre farm of Samuel
Provoost, the first bishop of New York and later president of Columbia. The " woods,"
which extended from 66th Street to 75th Street, was for many years a popular picnic
place.

The house was built by one of the Schermerhorn family, who came to this
country from Holland in 1636 and settled at Albany. One of them, Symon Scher-
merhorn, came to New York, and became a farmer, Indian trader, and ship-master.
His son, Arnout, rose to prominence and great wealth, establishing lines of sail-
ing vessels and investing in New York real estate so profitably that the family has
for generations been one of the most wealthy in New York. At the close of
the eighteenth century the farm-house was the summer home of Governor George
Clinton, a member of the Continental Congress, governor of New York State from
1777 to 1795 and in 1801, and twice Vice-President of the United States.

[ 22 ]

^m^^W

VAN CORTLANDT MANSION
In Van Cortlandt Park, Kingsbridge. Built 1748

The Van Cortlandt Mansion, which is now a museum in the care of the Colonial
Dames, was built in 1748 by Frederick Van Cortlandt to serve the double puqiose
of country home and a fort for protection against the Indians. Its walls of solid
gray stone, three feet in thickness, were pierced on every side with loopholes for mus-
kets. In the early days of its history its occupants never knew when they would
be free from attack by Indians.

The original domain, known as "the Lordship and Manor of Cortlandt," on which
the manor-house stands, was granted by Royal Charter of King William III. of Eng-
land, June 17, 1697, to Stephanus Van Cortlandt, who purchased the Indian rights of
Sackima Wicker, a son of the Indian chief Croton, or Noton, who held sway over
the territory about the Croton River. Many distinguished men sat at the manor-
house table, beginning with the Colonial Governors and including Generals Wash-
ington and Schuyler, Governor George Clinton, whose daughter married General
Pierre Van Cortlandt, Robert Livingston, John Jay, and others. Washington was
frequently here while his army lay along the Hudson, and here Colonel Henry B.
Livingston stayed while watching the "Vulture " off Teller's, now Croton's, Point, at the
time of Arnold's treason. Lafayette, Rochambeau, and the Duke de Lauzun often
came to the house, and here, too, some of the most eminent preachers of the Methodist
Church were entertained by General Pierre Van Cortlandt. The latter, who was a
stanch patriot, was a member of the New York Provincial Congress, chairman of
the New York Committee of Safety, and served for eighteen years as lieutenant-
governor of the Commonwealth, taking office immediately after the organization of
the State government in 1777. During the Revolutionary War the British once
captured and plundered the manor-house.

Pierre Van Cortlandt's son Philip, who succeeded to the estate, was a distin-
guished officer in the Continental Army. During the Revolution the British plundered
the manor-house, tearing away the carved wainscoting and using the tiles over the
Dutch fireplace for dining plates. In one of the rooms Captain Rowe, an officer in
the command of the Hessians, who were quartered here for a while, died in his fiancee's
arms from a wound received in an engagement with the patriots at Tippett Valley.

[ 23 ]

WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS

i6oth Street and Jumel Terrace and Edgecomb Avenue, known also
as the Roger Morris or Jumel Mansion. Built lydj

The Jumel or Morris Mansion is a museum of Colonial and Revolutionan,' relics.
It stands in a tract of ground that was once the countr>^ estate of Colonel Roger
Morris, a colonel in the British Army, by whom it was built in 1765. His wife,
Mar\- Philipse, was the daughter of Frederick Philipse, the last Lord of the Manor
of Philipsburg in Westchester County, and was the noted New York beauty with
whom General Washington fell in love on his way to Boston before the Revolution.
Morris had ser\-ed with Washington on Braddock's staff in the French and Indian
War, and was a member of the King's Council. He espoused the Royalist side at
the outbreak of the Revolution, and was forced to flee from his home when Wash-
ington and his army occupied the estate in 1776. He died in Chester, England,

in 1704.

Washington used this house as his headquarters from September 16 to October
21, 1776, and about it were camped his army of eight thousand untrained troops.
While here, he formed plans for the defence of Harlem Heights and for blocking the
Hudson so that British ships could not pass. Here also he carried on his correspond-
ence with William Duer. of the Secret Committee of Safety. The house was the
centre of the battle which preceded the capture of Fort Washington, November 16,
1776, and three lines of earthworks near it were taken by British troops under Lord
Percy-, .^fter General Washington evacuated it, the house became the headquarters
of Sir Henr\- Clinton, and from then on to the end of the Revoludon was the head-
quarters of'different Brirish officers, .\fter the confiscation of the Morris farm at
the close of the Revolution, the house became an inn known as Calumet Hall, and
was the first stopping-place on the road from .Albany to New York.

President Washington, Vice-President John .\dams, and Thomas Jefferson,
with a select party, dined here, July 10, 1790. After a number of vicissitudes the
house was finally bought by Stephen Jumel, a rich French wine merchant, whose
wife was noted for her entertainments. Jumel went to Paris in 181 5 to bring Napo-
leon Bonaparte to America, but brought instead many mementoes of Napoleon \Nith
which the Jumel Mansion was ornamented. Jumel died in 1832, and in 1833 his
widow, then past her prime, married .\aron Burr, her attorney, who was seventy-eight
years old. Incompatibility of temper soon led to a divorce. Madame Jumel lived
undl 1865. During the last years of her life, Louis, Jerome, and Joseph Napoleon,
and other celebrated French e.xiles were her guests. Nelson Chase, who married
the niece of Madame Jumel, ne.xt occupied the house, and had many literary men
as his guests. It was at the Jumel Mansion that Fitz-Greene Halleck wrote "Marco
Bozzaris." After a number of changes in ownership the property in 1903 was bought
by the city for $235,000, and was converted into a museum.

[ 24 ]

CHRISTOPHER HOUSE

Willow Brook, Staten Island. Built before I'j'jd

At this secluded farm-house of stone and wood, even now surrounded by woods
and under big willows, the Committee of Safety secretly met during the Revolution
while the British occupied Staten Island. To this place, which was reached by devious
and hidden paths, fled for shelter many individuals whom the British sought, and
many were the men seeking refuge in this old house who were caught on the way by
the British and summarily shot. The house was built by Nicholas Christopher
some time before the Revolution, and during the Revolution was owned by his son
Joseph, who was an ardent patriot and a member of the Committee of Safety. This
committee, which was appointed by popular convention in many of the colonies at
the outbreak of the Revolution, took the place of the roj'al governor as the execu-
tive of the colony, and ran affairs until the State Constitutions were formed. The
first Committee of Safety was appointed by the First Provincial Congress of Massa-
chusetts in February, 1775, to resist executing acts of Parliament, and was empowered
to muster the militia and collect and store war supplies. The Massachusetts com-
mittee wrote to various Massachusetts towns and to New Hampshire and Connecti-
cut for aid against the tyranny of Parliament, and, as the Revolution progressed,
similar committees, of which the New York committee was one, were formed in the
different provinces.

[ 25 ]

ST. PAUL'S CHAPEL

(BROADWAY VIEW)

Broadway, between Vesey and Fulton Streets. Built in iy66

This fine structure, which with its grounds reminds one of an Enghsh country
church, is the oldest church still standing on Manhattan Island, and was established
as one of the chapels of Trinity Church. Its architectural beauty was long unequalled,
and still is much admired. Its corner-stone was laid May 14, 1 764, in a growing wheat-
field at what is now the comer of Broadway and Fulton Street, and it was opened for
worship October 30, 1766. Many of the members of Trinity Church criticised its
location on the ground that it was so far out of town. Its "groves and orchards"
stretched down to the Hudson River, and at first were not fenced in. The architect
was McBean, who studied architecture in London. He followed closely the designs
of Sir Christopher Wren, so that the church resembles his London churches. Its
steeple was not added until 1794.

[ 26 ]

ST. PAUL'S CHAPEL

(west view)

At the time of the Revolution when the British occupied New York many of the
famous EngUsh officers worshipped here, including Lord Howe, Major John Andre,
and the midshipman who later became William IV. of England. After the War,
Washington, Governor George Clinton, and other patriots worshipped here. Washing-
ton, after his inauguration as President in the Federal Hall on Wall Street, came in
procession with the members of Congress to St. Paul's and listened to services by-
Bishop Provoost, chaplain of the Senate. Washington occupied the pew under the
national arms, while the one on the right under the arms of the State of New York
was the sitting of Governor George Clinton. In the churchyard lie the bodies of
General Richard Montgomery, who was killed during the Revolution at Quebec;
Dr. William James McNeven, the Irish patriot in the Rebellion of '98, who later
rose to distinction in this country; Sieur de Roche, aide-de-camp to Rochambeau;
and "Sam" Purdy, the jockey who rode EcUpse, May 27, 1823, the horse that won
a purse of $20,000 in race between the North and South. Tall and stately elms cast
a graceful shade about the church, and, when age necessitated cutting down one,
George P. Morris wrote in protest his poem, "Woodman, spare that Tree."

[ 27 ]

FERRIS HOUSE

Westchester Country Club Grounds, Westchester Village. Built before ijyd

This mansion, which was built before the Revolution and is in an excellent state
of preservation, was in October, 1776, the headquarters of Lord Howe while his army
was at Throgg's Neck. At that time the house was occupied by James and Charity
Ferris. Before Lord Howe and his officers, one of whom is said to have ridden his
horse into the house and marred the floor with the horse's hoofs, took possession of
the house, Mrs. Ferris sent her daughters across the Sound in the night, rowed by a
negro slave, to their uncle's at Floyd's Neck, to get them out of harm's way. She
herself is said to have prevented a bombardment of the house by the British ships by
walking up and down the piazza.

While she was cooking for the English officers, she had a colored slave-boy wait
upon Lord Howe and his officers, and instructed him to remember every word the
British officers said, so that he could repeat the information to an aide-de-camp of
General Washington, who was to meet him at the village where he went for supplies.
The aide-de-camp took the information to General Washington, who was with his army
at White Plains. It was long a source of wonder to Lord Howe how Washington learned
of his movements. Ferris, who was an ardent patriot, was subsequently captured by
the British, and imprisoned in the Old Sugar House prison in old New York City, where
his health was so ruined that soon after his release he died. The old house is now the
home of Mrs. Ellis.

[ 28 ]

CLAREMONT

On Riverside Drive, north of Grant's Tomb. Built about lySj

The famous inn, which commands a fine view of the Hudson, was built soon
after the Revolution on land which, August 4, 1796, was sold by Nicholas de Peyster
to George Pollock, a linen merchant, who named the place, which was noted for its
beautiful trees and shrubbery, Strawberry Hill. His five-year-old boy, St. Claire
Pollock, fell ofif the cliffs and was drowned, July 15, 1797, and Pollock went to New
Orleans. His descendants there are said to be called Polk. His land, ejcpressly reserv-
ing the burial-place containing the urn of his boy, which may still be seen near Grant's
Monument, was sold in 1803 to Joseph Alston, the husband of Theodosia Burr, the
beautiful daughter of Aaron Burr, who deeded it to Michael Hogan. Hogan had
been British consul at Havana, and named the place Claremont, after the residence
in Surrey of Prince William, Duke of Clarence, afterward King William IV. of Eng-
land, with whom Hogan had served as midshipman in the English navy. The Earl
of Devon, while living at Claremont in 1807, witnessed the trial of Fulton's "Cler-
mont," and in 1815 here lived Joseph Bonaparte, the ex-King of Spain. The city
finally bought the property, and since 1872 it has been a famous public restaurant.
The land to the east and south of the site was the scene of some of the sharpest en-
gagements of the battle of Harlem Heights on September 16, 1776.

[ 29]

DYCKMAN HOUSE

204th Street and Broadway. Built in 1783

The tract of land on which this house stands originally belonged to Jan Dyck-
man, who came from Bentheim, Westphalia, Germany, and was one of the original
patentees of Hariem. Here he settled in 1666, and built a house on Sherman Creek,
about 2ioth Street, near the Harlem River. Here, when the Indians were not trouble-
some, he farmed, and brought up a large family. His grandson William Dyckman,
who was bom in 1725, was a stanch patriot, and, soon after the British in 1776 invaded
the Bronx part of New York, was forced to flee with his numerous sons and daughters.
His home was burned by the invaders, and his sons became active in the patriot cause,
becoming members of the "Westchester Guides," who were so useful in imparting
information and scouting for the Colonial army. Dyckman was an exile for seven
years, and immediately after the close of the Revolution built the present farm-house,
which he occupied until his death, when the property was divided among his heirs.
The house is substantially as it was when Dyckman built it.

[30 ]

NO. 41 CHERRY STREET

Built about lySj

This and the adjoining house are relics of the period when Cherry Street and
Franklin Square were the Fifth Avenue of New York. At No. i, the corner of
Franklin Square and Cherry Street, was the home of Walter Franklin, the merchant,
which was later occupied as the first presidential mansion by General Washington
during his stay in New York.

In 1786, when the Continental Congress was in session, its president, John
Hancock, lived at No. 5 Cherry Street, the very house that was afterwards occupied
by William Tweed; and at No. 7 stood the house of Samuel Leggett, president of
the New York Gas Light Company, where gas was first used in the city, in 1835.

No. 41 Cherry Street was originally the property sold in 1742 by Israel Horsfeld
to John Latham, and in 1786 the house was built by Joseph Latham. John Latham
was a famous shipwright in the days immediately following the Revolution, and
left an estate which his descendants long enjoyed. The day of brownstone fronts had
not yet arrived when the house was put up. Brick was the fashionable building
material.

[ 31 ]

EASTERN HOTEL

Corner Whitehall and South Streets. Built before lygo

This is said to be the oldest hotel in active operation in Xew York City, having
been in continuous use as a hostelr\- since 1822. The property was bought May 26,
17Q0. by John B. Coles from .\nthony Lispenard and his wife for £350. Coles,
who lived at Xo. i State Street, and had been a sea captain and finally a flour mer-
chant, thereafter used Xo. i South Street as a warehouse. He was an alderman from
1797 to 1801, one of the organizers and original directors with .^aron Burr and others
of the Manhattan Company, and was long famous for his excellent wine-cellar. At a
dinner given in October, 1841, by Philip Hone, the Beau Brummel of his era, each
of the guests was asked to bring a bottle of Madeira, and then a vote was taken as to
whose was the best. The palm was given to M. H. Grinnell, who had brought a bottle
from Coles's wine-cellar.

One of Coles's descendants, Elizabeth V. Coles, presented the rare tapestries to
the Church of St. John the Divine. The warehouse, which originally had only three
stories, became a hotel May 9, 1822, and was called the Eagle Hotel. In 1856 the
name was changed to the Eastern Hotel, by which it has been known since. Much
of the timber of which the framework of the hotel was built is solid mahogany, the
original owner having been a sea captain, who brought the mahogany in ballast. Many
famous people have been guests at the hotel, among them being Robert Fulton, inventor
of the hrst steamboat, Commodore Vanderbilt, Daniel Webster, Jenny Lind. and P. T.
Bamum. It is said that Bamum carried his famous cement fraud, the Cardiff giant,
from Castle Garden to the Eastern Hotel for concealment every night, so that no one
could learn of what it was made.

[ 32 ]

JEREMIAH TOWLE HOUSE

421 East 6ist Street, near the end oj the Queensboro^ Bridge.

Built before I'/g^

This house was built, as a stable to his manor-house, by Peter Pra Van Sant,
who owned the farm which extended from 59th Street to 62d Street, from the old
Boston post road to the river. He sold (March 25, 1795) the mansion house, an
elaborate structure, with the bam, boat-house, bath-house, and other buildings, to
Colonel WilUam S. Smith, the son-in-law of President Adams. Colonel Smith, who
was made aide-de-camp to Major-General Sullivan with the rank of major at the
commencement of the Revolution, rose to be lieutenant-colonel in one of the battal-
ions raised by Massachusetts. He then became inspector and adjutant-general under
the Marquis de Lafayette, and in July, 1781, aide-de-camp to General Washington.
He served with such distinction in the many battles and sieges of the war at which
he was present that on June 24, 1782, he received the special commendation of
General Washington. After the Revolution he became secretary of the legation
to England, and made an extended tour of Europe, being everywhere received with
honor. On June 12, 1786, he married Abigail, the accomphshed daughter of John
Adams, who was then minister to Great Britain, and returned to America, where
he took up his residence in New York. He became a merchant, and was one
of the organizers of the Society of the Cincinnati. He failed in business, and his
former stable became a tavern, and was used as such until 1830, when it was pur-
chased by Jeremiah Towle, one of whose daughters lived in it until 1906. It is still
occupied as a residence.

[ 32, ]

ST. MARK'S-IN-THE-BOWERY

Second Avenue, between loth and nth Streets. Built lygg

It is the second oldest church standing on Manhattan Island. It occupies the
site of the chapel erected some time prior to 1660 by Governor Peter Stuyvesant,
on his "Bowerie," or farm, for the accommodation of his family and neighbors.
The Rev. Henry Selyns arrived in 1660 at Brooklyn from Holland, and Governor
Stuyvesant secured part of the minister's services for his chapel, paying that propor-
tion of the minister's salary which would correspond to the time given. After Stuyve-
sant's death his body was interred in a vault beneath the chapel, and his wife, who
was the daughter of a French Huguenot, continued to maintain services at ihe chapel
until her death in 1687. She requested in her will that the Dutch Reformed Church
of New York should assume charge of the chapel. As Mrs. Stu>'\'esant had only a
life interest, the Dutch Reformed Church could not take possession, and the chapel
fell into decay. In 1793 Peter Stuyvesant, great-grandson of the original Peter,
gave the land,' chapel, and S2.000 to Trinity. Trinity added $12,500, and in 1705-99
the present church was built. The family vault under the church was enlarged
and repaired, and the remains of Governor Stuyvesant again brought to view before
being reinterred. They were said to be clearly recognizable despite one hundred
and thirty years of interment. His tomb is under the southeast end of the church,
and is marked by a tablet. In the churchyard is the grave of A. T. Stewart,
the famous dry-goods merchant, whose body was stolen, and the graves of Mayor
Philip Hone, Dr. Harris, first rector of the church and ex-president of Columbia,
and Thomas Addis Emmet, a brother of the Irish patriot.

[ 34 ]

n

PRIME HOUSE

goth Street, near Avenue A, on ground of St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum.

Built about lygg

It is now one of the buildings of the St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum, and was built
by William Kenyon, who sold it in 1807 for $20,000 to Nathaniel Prime, one of Wall
Street's early bankers, who was at the beginning of the nineteenth century the third
richest man in New York, John Jacob Astor being the richest. Prime is said to have
been an employee of William Gray of Boston, who loaned him the money to engage in
the brokerage business. In 1796 he was a wonderfully successful stock and commis-
sion merchant at 42 Wall Street. His city home for many years was at Broadway
and Battery Place, now the Washington Building. His daughters married into
many of the leading famihes in New York. He bought a hundred and thirty acres
and used the house shown here for a country home.

[ 35 ]

HENDRICK I. LOTT HOUSE

Kimbell's Road, near Flatlands Bay. Built before 1800

The farm of which this house was the homestead was bought in 1719 for $10,500
from Coert Voorhies by Johannes Lott, a descendant of Pieter Lot, who came to this
country in 1652 from Ruinerwold, Netherlands, and settled in Flatbush. At one time
most of the land in the neighborhood where Lott settled was owned either by Lotts
or Wyckoffs. Johannes Lott lived on his farm, adding adjoining farms to his pos-
sessions until, at the time of his death, he was one of the largest land-owners in Flat-
lands. He took a prominent part in pubUc affairs, being at one time colonel in the
Kings County militia, and served with distinction in the French and Indian War.
At his death he left a farm to each of his three sons, one of whom was Hendrick 1.
Lott, the builder of the house shown here. Hendrick, who inherited the homestead,
married Mar>' Brownjohn, the grand-daughter of Dr. William Brownjohn, a well-
known physician at the close of the eighteenth century, who lived on Hanover Square,
near Wall Street, Manhattan. At his death, Dr. Brownjohn left a large estate in the
vicinity of Wall Street and Hanover Square, including the land under water where the
Wall Street Ferr>- now stands. This was sold between 1790 and 1795 for Si6o,ooo
by Gabriel William Ludlow. The window weights were removed from the doctor's
residence at the time of the Revolution to make bullets for the Continental army.

Hendrick Lott built this house, and moved the dining-room and kitchen wing
of the old house so that a side of this house is over two hundred years old. The
Lotts left many descendants, many of whom still live in Flatlands.

[ 36 ]

JOHN LEFFERTS HOMESTEAD

j6j Flatbush Avenue, Flatlands. Built before 1800

This house is one of the best types of Dutch architecture, and stands at the road-
side, surrounded by trees. It is on land granted to Lefferts Pietersen van Hagewout,
who came to this country in 1660, and by 1683 had an estate of worldly goods that
was valued by the assessors at £174 10s. His grandson John Lefferts was a judge of
the Court of Sessions and Common Pleas from 1751 to 1761, and a county judge from
1761 until his death. He was also a town clerk of Flatbush and a delegate to the
Provincial Congress. His son Pieter Lefferts was lieutenant of the militia of Flat-
bush and a prominent patriot. The original homestead of the Lefferts was burned
by Americans while they were engaging the British in the battle of Flatbush, because
the British were using it as a protection from the enemy. Soon after the close of the
war Mr. Lefferts rebuilt it as closely as possible after the original design, and this is
the house reproduced here. He was a State senator and a judge of the Court of
Sessions and Common Pleas. His son John was county treasurer, a member of the
State Constitution Committee, and a State senator. The house has been in the pos-
session of the Lefferts family for almost two hundred and fifty years.

[ 37 ]

■f :i

GRACIE HOUSE

East River Park and 88th Street. Built before 1800

This charming old house stands upon what was once known as Horn's Hook,
and commands a view of Hell Gate and the neighboring shore. At the beginning
of the nineteenth century Josiah Quincy, Boston's great mayor, who was entertained
there at dinner, described enthusiastically the beautiful situation that overlooked the
wild waters of Hell Gate.

The estate belonged to Archibald Gracie, who came to this countrj' from Scot-
land at the close of the Revolutionary War, and became one of the largest ship-owners
in the countrj-, his ships visiting ever>- port in the world. He bought the estate at
Grade's Point from the heirs of Jacob Walton, and built the house some time before
the end of the eighteenth century. His wife was Esther, the grand-daughter of
Thomas Fitch, of Connecticut. Here he entertained Washington Irving, who de-
scribes him as "an old gentleman with the soul of a prince." .\mong other distin-
guished people who dined at the house was Louis Philippe, while here in exile. W hen
he arrived in the family coach and four, which was sent for him, the Gracies were
assembled to meet him. "That's not the king," e.xclaimed aloud one of the little
girls: "he has no crown on his head." "In these days," the king laughingly said,
"kings are satisfied with wearing their heads without crowns."

Mr. Grade's fortune was swept away by the damage to commerce through the
wars between England and France during the Napoleonic era. The United States
assumed the indebtedness of his claims against France, but Congress persistently
neglected to pay them for generations. The old building is now owned by the city,
and is practically the same as when Gracie occupied it.

[ 38 ]

NO. 7 STATE STREET

Built before iSoo

The fine old house at this number is a relic of the days when Bowling Green was
the Fifth Avenue of New York and the early shipping, comprising stately clipper
ships and dumpy coasters, came almost up to the doors of the city's aristocracy. It
was built during the last part of the eighteenth century by James Watson, and in 1805
he sold it to Moses Rogers, a prominent merchant, whose wife was a grand-daughter
of Governor Fitch of Connecticut and sister of the wife of President Timothy Dwight
of Yale. In 1793 Rogers and his brother-in-law were merchants, doing business as
Rogers & Woolsey. Rogers was an active member of the Society for the Manumission
of Slaves, an officer of the New York Hospital in 1702-90, and in 1797 treasurer of
the City Dispensary. He was also a vestryman of Trinity Church and member of
the Society for the Relief of Distressed Prisoners. His sister, Esther, married Archi-
bald Gracie, the linen merchant and ship-owner. The peculiar shape of the exterior
of the house was caused by State Street taking a sharp turn, so that the house had
to be built at the apex of the angle. During the Civil War it was used for military
purposes by the Government. It is now a home for Irish immigrant girls, under the
auspices of the Mission of Our Lady of the Rosary.

[ 39 ]

[40]

BANK

OF

THE MANHATTAN COMPANY

IT is fitting that this brochure should conclude with a brief
history of the Bank of the Manhattan Company, from its
rather unique beginning in 1799.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century New York was
by no means so healthy a place as it is to-day, for it was
frequently swept during the hot season by epidemics of yellow
fever. One of the most severe of these, which occurred
in 1798 and was attributed to the inadequate and inferior
water supply, led a number of public-spirited gentlemen,
among whom were John B. Church and Daniel Ludlow,
wealthy merchants, to apply to the legislature for a charter
for a company that would supply New York with pure water.
Two of the most active spirits in the movement were Aaron
Burr and Alexander Hamilton, who at this time were not
by any means the bitter rivals that they were three years
later. And the two together, on February 25, 1799, called
upon the mayor in advocacy of the movement, and were
directed by the Common Council to put in writing their request
for the granting of the charter to the Manhattan Company.
It does not appear what further interest Alexander Hamil-
ton had in the movement, but the company was formed with
a capital of two millions, and it was given the name of the
Manhattan Company.

A clause was inserted in the charter permitting the
company "to employ all surplus capital in the purchase of
public or other stock or in any other monied transactions
or operations not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws
of New York or of the United States."

[ 41 ]

There was some opposition to the provisions of this charter
which granted the company banking privileges, as the Bank
of New York, organized by Alexander Hamilton in 1784, had
received a charter in 1792. The Bank of New York and the
New York branch of the first Bank of the United States
were then the only banks doing business in the City of
New York. As this monopoly of banking facilities was
of great value to the Federal party, — which, under the lead-
ership of Hamilton, was then in control, — much jealousy
arose among the leaders of the opposition, under Aaron
Burr, so that, however willing Hamilton may have been
to grant the charter to the water company, there was
much opposition to the granting of a charter which would
open the doors to a banking business. The need of a proper
water supply was, however, too strong to be denied, particu-
larly as it could be carried through only by a responsible
company with large capital, so that it passed the legislature
on April 2, 1799, and soon received the governor's signature.

The books were opened for public subscription to the
$2,000,000 capital stock of the Manhattan Company, the par
value of which was $50. Among the subscribers to the
stock were Daniel Ludlow, John Watts, John B. Church,
Brockholst Livingston, WilUam Laight, Pascal N. Smith,
Samuel Osgood, John Stevens, John B. Coles, John Broome,
and Aaron Burr, many of the best-known merchants of the
time. The entire amount was subscribed by May 15, New
York City taking 2,000 of the shares, and the charter pro-
vided that the recorder of the city should be ex officio a di-
rector of the company, — a provision which was in effect for
one hundred and eight years, until the abolition of the ofhce
in 1907.

The first meeting of the board of directors was held at the
house of Edward Barden, inn-keeper, April 11, 1799. All
the directors, including Richard Harrison, the Recorder of
the City of New York, were present, except William Edgar.
Daniel Ludlow was chosen president, and Samuel Osgood,
John B. Coles, and John Stevens were appointed a com-
mittee to report the best means to obtain a water supply.
It was decided to dig a number of wells in various parts of the

[ 43 ]

city, and particularly a large well, thirty-five feet deep, be-
tween Reade and Chambers Streets, a few feet from Collect
Pond. Over this early well, a tank of iron was erected, which
is now enclosed in an old-fashioned building, and is still owned
by the Bank of the Manhattan Company. The water was
piped to the lower part of the city in pine logs, and the
distributing system was gradually extended through the city
south of City Hall. In 1836 the water system was extended
north along Broadway as far as Bleecker Street. At that
time the company had about twenty-five miles of mains and
supplied 2,000 houses. The water, while wholesome, was not
very clear, and did not give entire satisfaction, but the com-
pany continued to operate its water ser\'ice until the com-
pletion of the Croton system in 1842.

With the banking business in view, a committee of directors
was appointed on April 17, 1799, ''to consider the most proper
means for employing the capital of the company," and on
June 3, 1799, the committee reported in favor of opening an
office of discount and deposit in a house which was purchased
on the site of the present No. 40 Wall Street. At this num-
ber on September i, 1799, the Bank of the Manhattan Com-
pany began business. The first action of the directors after
the opening of the bank was to resolve that the board would
meet Monday and Thursday of each week at eleven o'clock,
and this policy of semi- weekly meetings still prevails, so that the
entire board is enabled to keep in close touch with all its afi'airs.

Though the main office of the bank has always been at No.
40 Wall Street, a yellow fever epidemic in the autumn of 1805
caused all of the banks to move temporarily to the village of
Greenwich, and finally the directors determined to provide a
country office for use during the sickly season. Mr. Astor
oft'ered to cede eight lots of ground near Greenwich that were
a part of his purchase from Governor Clinton. Land was finally
acquired between the Bowerv^ Road and East River. Branches
of the bank were maintained from 1809 to 18 19 in Utica and
Poughkeepsie.

The legislature in granting certain amendments in 1808
to the charter of the Manhattan Company gave the State
the right to take 1,000 shares of the Company's capital

[ 44 ]

stock (par $50). The State exercised this right, the capital
stock was increased from $2,000,000 to $2,050,000, and to-day
both the State and the City of New York are still stock-
holders in the bank. This bank was one of the institutions
to receive the Government deposits when they were with-
drawn in 1833 from the Bank of the United States by Pres-
ident Jackson.

The Bank of the Manhattan Company acts as the reserve
agent for many banks and trust companies throughout the
country. It is to-day, as it was originally, primarily a com-
mercial bank, seeking the active accounts of merchants and
manufacturers and extending to them such accommodation
as their credit and standing warrant.

OLD WOODEN WATER MAINS

[ 45 ]

/T gives the Bank of the Manhattan Company pleasure
to present to you this briej account oj substantially all
the buildings of historic interest now remaining in the City
of New York which were standing at the time the bank was
chartered. The bank hopes you will find the brochure
worthy of preservation in your library. Every effort has
been made to make it interesting and reliable, and we
shall appreciate an acknowledgment, in order that we may
know you have received it.

Originally established one hundred and fourteen years
ago as an ^''Office of Discount and Deposit,^"* the Bank
of the Manhattan Company has been developed as an
independent commercial bank, and the diversified char-
acter of its deposits has always given it ample funds for
the requirements of its commercial clients.

We should welcome an opportunity to lay before you
more fully the advantages the bank offers as a place of
deposit for the funds of individuals, firms, and mercantile
corporations.

BANK OF THE MANHATTAN COMPANY

40 Wall Street, New York

CHARTERED 1799
BANK OF THE MANHATTAN COMPANY

STATEMENT
APRIL I, 1914

RESOURCES

Loans and Discounts $34,692,458.20

Bonds and Stocks 6,683,290.25

Bank Premises 900,000.00

Due from Banks 2,427,802.77

Exchanges for Clearing House 20,768,278.10

Cash i3>5i2,o77.ii

$78>983.9o6.43
LIABILITIES

Capital Stock $2,050,000.00

Surplus 4,100,000.00

Undivided Profits 759,182.83

Deposits :

Individuals $47,192,551.05

Banks and Trust Companies . . 20,393,058.53

Savings Banks 4,489,114.02 72,074,723.60

$78,983,906.43

(Officers

President
STEPHEN BAKER

Vice-Presidents
HENRY K. McHARG

Cashier
D. H. PIERSON

PIERRE JAY

Assistant Cashiers

JAMES McNeil

B. D. FORSTER

^treclnrs

JAMES TALCOTT,

Merchant.

HENRY K. McHARG,

Vice-President.

STEPHEN BAKER,
President.

FREDERICK G. BOURNE,

Singer Manufacturing Company.

R. W. PATERSON,

Paterson, Boardman & Knapp,
Importers.

WILLIAM S. TOD,

J. Kennedy Tod & Company.

JAMES SPEYER,

Speyer & Company, Bankers.

WILLIAM SLOANE,

President, W. & J. Sloane, Carpets.

SAMUEL SLOAN,

Vice-President, The Fanners' Loan & Trust
Company.

PIERRE JAY,

Vice-President.

B. H. BORDEN,

M. C. D. Borden & Sons, Commission
Merchants.

WALTER JENNINGS,

President, National Fuel Gas Company.

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